KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has issued notices to the chief secretary, the administrator of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA), and others in response to a petition challenging the provincial government’s plan to allocate 6,000 acres of land to the DHA.
A division bench, consisting of Justice Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan and Justice Rashida Asad, addressed the petition along with an application for an urgent hearing.
Following an initial hearing, the bench approved the urgency application and issued notices for the main petition.
“Exemption granted subject to all just exceptions. Notice to the respondents as well as AAG for a date to be fixed by office after summer vacations,” the court order stated.
The petitioner argues that the land should be allocated to low-income residents of Karachi at subsidized rates. The SHC will hear the case after the summer vacation.
Advocate Ashfaque Ali Panhwar brought the case to the SHC, stating that the DHA had requested 5,000 to 6,000 acres of land near Hawkesbay from the Sindh chief minister in August last year for expansion purposes.
He claimed that the Sindh government was considering the request, and the DHA Karachi had already provided a site plan for the 6,000 acres of proposed land at Hawkesbay.
The petitioner named the chief minister, chief secretary, land revenue utilization secretary, DHA administrator, senior member of the Board of Revenue, deputy commissioner-Keamari, and others as respondents.
He alleged that the correspondence between the respondents did not mention any payment to the Sindh government for the 6,000 acres of land.
The petitioner noted that the provincial government had previously allocated land to the DHA and others in Karachi and Hyderabad, neglecting the needs of underprivileged people in the province.
He cited the earlier allotment of 11,640 acres to the DHA for its DHA-City project without any government tax.
The petitioner argued that the land in question should be allocated to low-income residents of Sindh, particularly those in Karachi, at subsidized rates.
He requested the SHC to summon the respondents in person to resolve the case and urged the court to obtain records from the respondents regarding land allotted by the Sindh government to the DHA and other entities over the past 15 years.
